Sunday, June 24th: No rares, Sorry (It's MY fault!!)

Submitted by Merthyn on Sat, 06/23/2007 - 1:05pm.

Since my midnight computer mishap a couple of days ago, Arte has been working me like a dog (pun intended).
If you thought he was rough on me before, you should see what he's been having me do lately.
First I had to wash all of his laundry (in that silly tin tub), then I had to dust every item in his Medieval storage room (By the way, I think he's been holding out on us.).
Next I had to clean his entire kitchen, including all of the pots and pans he had been using during his latest cooking experiments, and I had to....well, this could go on all evening.

drupal_mosgoogle center

Now, here I am on a late night pizza run.
Actually, the pizza part isn't too bad since I was able to buy those ready-made.
It's the two dozen Cookie Tornados that I had to make to go with the pizzas that was the tough part. You should have seen the way they looked at me in the W-shop when I bought all of the cookies, bananas, and ice cream cones they had.
I wonder what Arte needs all of this food for anyway.

As I approach the shop I can see that it is closed.
There is a group of people milling around outside, rattling the door, and attempting to peer in the darkened windows.
"Good grief! Doesn't he know we're out here waiting?" I hear one shout.
"Arte, there's supposed to be a sale on right now! Let us in!" Another pleads.
Keeping my head down and walking quickly, I duck around the side of the shop and head into the alley.

"Whew. That was close."
I don't like to think of what might have happened if one of those angry customers had recognized me. They like me well enough when I provide them with the list for the day, but some of them haven't been too happy since the rare item switch, and I bet they'd turn on me pretty quickly if they knew I was going around back to meet Arte when they couldn't even get in the shop.

Through a window at the back of the shop I can see that the lights are on in one of the rear rooms. "Arte must have something really important for tomorrow to bring me in at this hour."
I yawn.
Climbing up the back steps mentally I try to create a map of Arte's shop to figure out what room he's in.
"The Medieval Room? No. That's further over. The Egyptian Room? No. That doesn't have a window."
Behind the front room of Arte's shop is a labyrinth of hallways and rooms spilling over with rare artifacts.
The problem is that if you aren't very well acquainted with the layout, it is very easy to get lost. This evening, my mind is lost (well, most evenings, but we don't need to go there) and I can't quite remember what room that light is in.

Just then, the back door swings open and Arte sticks his head out.
"Hey, Merthyn. Glad to see ya made it okay. I was afraid you'd gotten tied up with that mob out front."
I'm a bit surprised at how nice he is being to me, but I'm certainly not going to question it.
He sighs and takes one of the pizza boxes from me.
"Don't those people know that I need a break from them once in a while?" Arte asks?
I just smile and wisely keep my mouth shut.

I'm not looking forward to hauling artifacts around all night, but, as usual, my curiosity has gotten the better of me and I can't wait to find out what tomorrow's rare item will be.
"So, Arte, do we have a long night of sorting rare items ahead of us? Is that why you asked me to bring the pizza and the snacks?"

"Um, not exactly."
Arte smiles and then opens the door to the room ahead of us.
What I see next is totally not what I expected.
Inside three dogs are sitting at a small circular table, playing cards, and I see an empty King's Throne that must be Arte's.
It looks exactly like the "Dogs Playing Poker" painting I have hanging in my game room.
"Actually Merthyn, we called you down here because we ran out of food and no one wanted to go to the store to get more."

"Arte! I can't believe you asked me down here in the middle of the night for a card game!" I start to get excited, "Does this mean you've forgiven me for the computer thing?"
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize that I've said the wrong thing.
The three other dogs stop what they are doing and turn to stare at me.
Except for the pounding of my heart, the room is totally silent.

"Merthyn, do you have any idea how much trouble your 'little mix-up' caused?" he growls.
"Your little bit of snooping caused my computer to tell Medieval Movers to send all of the suits of armor over to the W-Shop. By the time I got there, the people at the W-shop were trying to put them in a window display with all of the new gardening stuff. They thought they were a new type of scarecrow!" he roars, very upset!
I manage to stifle a laugh.

"It is not funny. I plan my sales for the entire day around what my rare item is going to be. Because I didn't get the suits of armor in time, I had to dig back in my inventory and sell the globes that I had been hoping to hold on to for another day. Then I had to re-plan what the rest of the items I was going to offer for the day would be. It was a terrible mess. And now we've got nothing for Sunday!!"
Arte turns away from the card game and heads off down the hallway.
"Leave the food with the guys. I'm going to show you what I have in story for you."

Arte leads me to his Egyptian room.
"Your job tonight is to clean everyone of those Ancient Pyramid Lamps until they are clean and look perfect! They're going on sale tomorrow and I want some satisfied customers!!"
I stare up at the largest collection of Ancient Pyramid Lamps I have ever seen.
The are stacked one on top of the other and fill the entire room all of the way up to the ceiling. "The guys and I are going to be busy with our game, so don't bother us. I'll be back to check on you later."
And, with that, Arte leaves.

So, as you can see, I had a pretty rough night.
My arms feel like they are about to fall off, and I can barely keep my eyes open, but it's not all bad.
I managed to finish work before the guys had to go home, so Arte delt me in to the last few hands. I lost my favorite hat to a pair of Pocket Aces, but by the end of the game Arte was smiling at me again, and appeared to have forgiven me.
So I think I was really the big winner of the night.